Nice event!

THEMAGICkMAN

Well done on this event overall, a few requests for next time this event is run to make it much better

1: no planeswalker requirement. This is the glaring problem with this event, it sucks having to use a specific planeswalker, and if you don't have him you don't get good rewards, next time please do away with this required planeswalker nonsense.

2: 4 hour recharge timers, this goes for all events not just this one, there was never any problem with 4 hour timers, and with the maximum size of node charges increased changing this back shouldn't be a problem.

3: fix the tiebreaker system. Now I know the event isn't over but I'd hate to see 6 people with the same score at the top, and one of them missing out. This goes for all events and is something I would consider urgent. It's a rather large glaring problem with the events these days.

Thanks for running an overall great event, I think the secondary objectives are perfect and that the fact that it's a 2 day event makes it feel important, you did a good job on this Devs, just clean it up a little bit for next time!

Cheers, THEMAGICkMAN

losdamianos

THEMAGICkMAN wrote:

Well done on this event overall, a few requests for next time this event is run to make it much better


2: 4 hour recharge timers, this goes for all events not just this one, there was never any problem with 4 hour timers, and with the maximum size of node charges increased changing this back shouldn't be a problem.

8 hour recharge timers is arguably the best feature of the recent update, some of us cant really play in work hence 8 hour recharge time eliminate this issue and puts everyone on the same level.
Instead of making timers shorter solution is to throw at the start 10-20 more charges so overall there will be the same amount of games as if the timer would be 4 hours but everyone can play at their own time

Morphis

If say more important is to fix the energize making the game lagging like you were trying to run battlefield on it with ultra details.
Any match that goes long enough will make iPhone 8 crash
(no that's not a typo, I bet in the current state even the next iPhone would crash)

Volrak

losdamianos wrote:

8 hour recharge timers is arguably the best feature of the recent update, some of us cant really play in work hence 8 hour recharge time eliminate this issue and puts everyone on the same level.

Agree completely; prior to this change, some portion of the playerbase had to be up at 4:00am or else miss out on playing a game on every node in every event. This was a hugely important change for fairness. (4:00 may still be a critical time for tiebreakers for some people, but that's a vastly better situation than having to do it to avoid missing a node tick completely.)

Yvendros

Morphis wrote:

If say more important is to fix the energize making the game lagging like you were trying to run battlefield on it with ultra details.
Any match that goes long enough will make iPhone 8 crash
(no that's not a typo, I bet in the current state even the next iPhone would crash)

i gotta chime in... iphone 6s here. the last crash i had was about 3 updates ago. and it was only my 2nd crash ever. it seems as if the high-end phones don't have much issue. That's NOT to say that it's okay for the devs to recommend everyone get the newest/bestest devices. I just don't like the argument that ALL devices are crashing.

Morphis

Yvendros wrote:

Morphis wrote:

If say more important is to fix the energize making the game lagging like you were trying to run battlefield on it with ultra details.
Any match that goes long enough will make iPhone 8 crash
(no that's not a typo, I bet in the current state even the next iPhone would crash)

i gotta chime in... iphone 6s here. the last crash i had was about 3 updates ago. and it was only my 2nd crash ever. it seems as if the high-end phones don't have much issue. That's NOT to say that it's okay for the devs to recommend everyone get the newest/bestest devices. I just don't like the argument that ALL devices are crashing.

I HIGHLY doubt the fact that your phone did not crash has much to do with its performance.
I don't have risks in most games.
People with much older devices also don't.
Because the issue is related to specific things.

Try playing a 20 minute game where there is lots of fetch/energize/whatever is now slowing this game....

The game WILL CRASH.
Maybe it will take even 5 more minutes in your case, but it will.

wereotter

Morphis wrote:

Yvendros wrote:

Morphis wrote:

If say more important is to fix the energize making the game lagging like you were trying to run battlefield on it with ultra details.
Any match that goes long enough will make iPhone 8 crash
(no that's not a typo, I bet in the current state even the next iPhone would crash)

i gotta chime in... iphone 6s here. the last crash i had was about 3 updates ago. and it was only my 2nd crash ever. it seems as if the high-end phones don't have much issue. That's NOT to say that it's okay for the devs to recommend everyone get the newest/bestest devices. I just don't like the argument that ALL devices are crashing.

I HIGHLY doubt the fact that your phone did not crash has much to do with its performance.
I don't have risks in most games.
People with much older devices also don't.
Because the issue is related to specific things.

Try playing a 20 minute game where there is lots of fetch/energize/whatever is now slowing this game....

The game WILL CRASH.
Maybe it will take even 5 more minutes in your case, but it will.

I play on an iPhone 6 as well and don't have issues with energize, and I always energize the entire field with Dovin Baan. However, lots of servos really stalls down the game for me.

Morphis

Yes most likely what really kills it is deploy

Still(have an iPhone 6 here too) full field of energize on the long run really slows down for me(not sure if it's enough in itself).

The key for all is the duration of the match though.
If I cast 3 deploy in a row and win fast the game does not feel it.

madwren

1. Planeswalker requirements are stupid
2. The 8-hour timers are awesome. It's really leveled the playing field across time zones and life restrictions.
3. I think that the 3-day length and difficult objectives *is* their way of reducing ties.

THEMAGICkMAN

Morphis wrote:

If say more important is to fix the energize making the game lagging like you were trying to run battlefield on it with ultra details.
Any match that goes long enough will make iPhone 8 crash
(no that's not a typo, I bet in the current state even the next iPhone would crash)

That is completely true, but it doesn't really *directly* link to the event.

losdamianos wrote:

THEMAGICkMAN wrote:

Well done on this event overall, a few requests for next time this event is run to make it much better


2: 4 hour recharge timers, this goes for all events not just this one, there was never any problem with 4 hour timers, and with the maximum size of node charges increased changing this back shouldn't be a problem.

8 hour recharge timers is arguably the best feature of the recent update, some of us cant really play in work hence 8 hour recharge time eliminate this issue and puts everyone on the same level.
Instead of making timers shorter solution is to throw at the start 10-20 more charges so overall there will be the same amount of games as if the timer would be 4 hours but everyone can play at their own time

Having greater Max capacity would fix that easily, I just (and so do other) want to play more of the event, it would also almost completely eliminote the ties for first.

madwren wrote:

1. Planeswalker requirements are stupid
2. The 8-hour timers are awesome. It's really leveled the playing field across time zones and life restrictions.
3. I think that the 3-day length and difficult objectives *is* their way of reducing ties.

Yes the 8 hour timers are generally great, except we dont get to play as much, which I think is a bit of a bummer. Just gotta increase the maximum capacity for the nodes to 10 or 12.

span_argoman

I'm personally liking the 8 hour recharge cycle and the half-filled nodes at the start. It's less restrictive on my schedule so I don't have to worry about missing out nodes.

However I guess for those who feel there isn't enough matches played. Perhaps an option would be for the node max capacities to be doubled and for each 8 hour cooldown to give 2 charges instead of 1, especially with the 1 day events nowadays.

Though I must say personally I prefer things as is. The tie issue goes deeper and should be solved through deeper changes in the game system.

Steeme

I'm actually not enjoying this event at all. Once again we have a themed event where I've designed decks using the new cards in the set. I'm only trying to a) Win and b) Energize 5 gems. I'm not even attempting the 3rd objective.

I keep facing non-event zerg decks that I just can't keep pace with. Or they're non-event decks with one card replaced in order to fulfill the energize requirement. Already faced with 2 ridiculous losses in under 10 matches played (Gold tier, not even Platinum). In addition, the matches that I do win are such slog fests as I play cards and get repeatedly griefed by the AI who I'm sure just savors every opportunity to drag the match out as long as possible. Like I don't have anything better to do.

The problem is that the new energize mechanic is quite weak if you don't have the key cards to make it synergize. Given I don't have those cards, any attempt to actually participate in this event is actually gimping my deck. So why stress me out and put me up against fully optimized non-event decks?

Just a suggestion: Casual players should not be regularly matched against tryhards. They are two different classes of player with two different intents and two different play-styles. This will be the first event ever where I no longer care whether or not I even reach the basic progression. I actually enjoyed the EC event so you can imagine how poor of an experience this event is in comparison.


Edit: Keep getting faced up against Koth. Always some type of Olivia + Akoum or Olivia + Wolf of Devil's Breach type deck. Way too much work. I'm done with this event. Don't event care anymore.

Ohboy

span_argoman wrote:

I'm personally liking the 8 hour recharge cycle and the half-filled nodes at the start. It's less restrictive on my schedule so I don't have to worry about missing out nodes.

However I guess for those who feel there isn't enough matches played. Perhaps an option would be for the node max capacities to be doubled and for each 8 hour cooldown to give 2 charges instead of 1, especially with the 1 day events nowadays.

Though I must say personally I prefer things as is. The tie issue goes deeper and should be solved through deeper changes in the game system.

I think 8 hour cool downs are great. The partially charged starting nodes is awesome. It's the lack of games which is the problem, which I feel should be rectified by making each event last at least 3 days, overlapping as they start new ones.

This way we get to play at our pace, have more games, and still have more events.

THEMAGICkMAN

span_argoman wrote:

I'm personally liking the 8 hour recharge cycle and the half-filled nodes at the start. It's less restrictive on my schedule so I don't have to worry about missing out nodes.

However I guess for those who feel there isn't enough matches played. Perhaps an option would be for the node max capacities to be doubled and for each 8 hour cooldown to give 2 charges instead of 1, especially with the 1 day events nowadays.

Though I must say personally I prefer things as is. The tie issue goes deeper and should be solved through deeper changes in the game system.

I really like the idea of 8 hour recharge by it giving you 2 games per node, I think that's a nice middle ground between more games and play when we want. Also the Max node capacity should be increased to at least 10 for each event. There are people who have snowstorms and have no wifi for a while but still want to play, and increasing Max capacity would be hard or cause any problems.

Ohboy wrote:

span_argoman wrote:

I'm personally liking the 8 hour recharge cycle and the half-filled nodes at the start. It's less restrictive on my schedule so I don't have to worry about missing out nodes.

However I guess for those who feel there isn't enough matches played. Perhaps an option would be for the node max capacities to be doubled and for each 8 hour cooldown to give 2 charges instead of 1, especially with the 1 day events nowadays.

Though I must say personally I prefer things as is. The tie issue goes deeper and should be solved through deeper changes in the game system.

I think 8 hour cool downs are great. The partially charged starting nodes is awesome. It's the lack of games which is the problem, which I feel should be rectified by making each event last at least 3 days, overlapping as they start new ones.

This way we get to play at our pace, have more games, and still have more events.

I feel like overlapping coalition events would make this game to much of a grind for most people and 3 day events would really start to drag on and get boring quickly, especially in platinum where people are all running kiora in this event, I don't think anyone would like to be doing the same repetitive thing for 3 days more than once a month, if you do like that there's a nice thing called "quick battle"
But for the majority of players having every event last 3 days is overkill on the grind section, it would wear thin quickly.
At this point I think everyone agrees that half charged nodes are amazing.

Lagartha

The one thing I have against overlapping events is that there's no way to save decks yet. Obnix is my go to walker for the Fateful Showdown. It's annoying in that event alone switching out his deck every other battle. I can't imagine having three events at once.

span_argoman

Ohboy wrote:

span_argoman wrote:

I'm personally liking the 8 hour recharge cycle and the half-filled nodes at the start. It's less restrictive on my schedule so I don't have to worry about missing out nodes.

However I guess for those who feel there isn't enough matches played. Perhaps an option would be for the node max capacities to be doubled and for each 8 hour cooldown to give 2 charges instead of 1, especially with the 1 day events nowadays.

Though I must say personally I prefer things as is. The tie issue goes deeper and should be solved through deeper changes in the game system.

I think 8 hour cool downs are great. The partially charged starting nodes is awesome. It's the lack of games which is the problem, which I feel should be rectified by making each event last at least 3 days, overlapping as they start new ones.

This way we get to play at our pace, have more games, and still have more events.

Just my thoughts on the reasons why events can feel lacklustre with the 8-hour timer:

Let's look at the ratio of starting charges to games we get from the cooldown timer.
We'll treat the starting charges as Day 0, the next 24 hours as Day 1, and so on.

1-day event (3 nodes, 3 starting charges, 5 max charges) [Terror, EC]

Ratio: 9:6 (60% : 40%)

1-day event (5 nodes, 1 starting charges, 3 max charges) [NoP]

Ratio: 5:10 (33% : 66%)

2-day event (1 node, 8 starting charges, 10 max charges) [Holiday Showdown]

Ratio: 8:3:2 (62% : 23% : 15%)

2-day event (3 nodes, 2 starting charges, 3 max charges) [*Closest fit: Fateful Showdown]

Ratio: 6:9:6 (29% : 43% : 29%)

3-day event (3 nodes, 5 starting charges, 7 max charges) [Inventor's Fair]

Ratio: 15:9:9:6 (38% : 23%: 23% : 15%)

Do correct me if any of the numbers are off, whether starting charges or number of nodes.

I firmly believe the 1 day events are fine as they are in terms of the number of games and being only 1 day are short enough that the ratio of games hardly matters so I will not comment on them. I am also appreciative of the fact that you can join the 1-day event at any time of the event and not lose nodes. This is a great improvement for people with less flexible schedules or other work/life commitments.

Coming to the two day events, Holiday Showdown has a terrible ratio. You play 3/5 of the total event games at the start, leaving you feel like nothing is left to play in the coming 46 hours. An alternative distribution using the same total games would be 3 starting charges, with 2 charges given per 8 hours making the ratios 3:6:4 or 23% : 46% : 31%. That way people still feel like the meat of the event is ahead and the progression more closely follows the duration of the event.

Although Fateful Showdown isn't exactly a time-restricted event but it comes close to 1.5 to 2.5 days to finish. But to me, that ratio of starting charges to cooldown games doesn't feel as lumpy as Holiday Showdown.

And for Inventor's Fair, the distribution means that you'll be playing the same number of games at the start of the event as the last 46 hours(!), which once again front-loads the experience and (imo) generates less excitement during the event. If we instead changed it to a 2-day event with 2 charges per 8-hour cooldown and the same number of starting charges, we get 15:18:12 (33% : 40%: 27%) which is 6 more matches, 1 day shorter and has a more balanced ratio. I personally think this would be a more favourable distribution.

The point of the stuff I typed is that I think it matters more that the matches are well distributed over the course of the event than the actual number of matches. I think while there are those who actually want more matches per event, many of us are not that keen to go back to the old days where we had to play up to 70 matches over 48 hours to compete.

THEMAGICkMAN

span_argoman wrote:

Ohboy wrote:

span_argoman wrote:

I'm personally liking the 8 hour recharge cycle and the half-filled nodes at the start. It's less restrictive on my schedule so I don't have to worry about missing out nodes.

However I guess for those who feel there isn't enough matches played. Perhaps an option would be for the node max capacities to be doubled and for each 8 hour cooldown to give 2 charges instead of 1, especially with the 1 day events nowadays.

Though I must say personally I prefer things as is. The tie issue goes deeper and should be solved through deeper changes in the game system.

I think 8 hour cool downs are great. The partially charged starting nodes is awesome. It's the lack of games which is the problem, which I feel should be rectified by making each event last at least 3 days, overlapping as they start new ones.

This way we get to play at our pace, have more games, and still have more events.

Just my thoughts on the reasons why events can feel lacklustre with the 8-hour timer:

Let's look at the ratio of starting charges to games we get from the cooldown timer.
We'll treat the starting charges as Day 0, the next 24 hours as Day 1, and so on.

1-day event (3 nodes, 3 starting charges, 5 max charges) [Terror, EC]

Ratio: 9:6 (60% : 40%)

1-day event (5 nodes, 1 starting charges, 3 max charges) [NoP]

Ratio: 5:10 (33% : 66%)

2-day event (1 node, 8 starting charges, 10 max charges) [Holiday Showdown]

Ratio: 8:3:2 (62% : 23% : 15%)

2-day event (3 nodes, 2 starting charges, 3 max charges) [*Closest fit: Fateful Showdown]

Ratio: 6:9:6 (29% : 43% : 29%)

3-day event (3 nodes, 5 starting charges, 7 max charges) [Inventor's Fair]

Ratio: 15:9:9:6 (38% : 23%: 23% : 15%)

Do correct me if any of the numbers are off, whether starting charges or number of nodes.

I firmly believe the 1 day events are fine as they are in terms of the number of games and being only 1 day are short enough that the ratio of games hardly matters so I will not comment on them. I am also appreciative of the fact that you can join the 1-day event at any time of the event and not lose nodes. This is a great improvement for people with less flexible schedules or other work/life commitments.

Coming to the two day events, Holiday Showdown has a terrible ratio. You play 3/5 of the total event games at the start, leaving you feel like nothing is left to play in the coming 46 hours. An alternative distribution using the same total games would be 3 starting charges, with 2 charges given per 8 hours making the ratios 3:6:4 or 23% : 46% : 31%. That way people still feel like the meat of the event is ahead and the progression more closely follows the duration of the event.

Although Fateful Showdown isn't exactly a time-restricted event but it comes close to 1.5 to 2.5 days to finish. But to me, that ratio of starting charges to cooldown games doesn't feel as lumpy as Holiday Showdown.

And for Inventor's Fair, the distribution means that you'll be playing the same number of games at the start of the event as the last 46 hours(!), which once again front-loads the experience and (imo) generates less excitement during the event. If we instead changed it to a 2-day event with 2 charges per 8-hour cooldown and the same number of starting charges, we get 15:18:12 (33% : 40%: 27%) which is 6 more matches, 1 day shorter and has a more balanced ratio. I personally think this would be a more favourable distribution.

The point of the stuff I typed is that I think it matters more that the matches are well distributed over the course of the event than the actual number of matches. I think while there are those who actually want more matches per event, many of us are not that keen to go back to the old days where we had to play up to 70 matches over 48 hours to compete.

Wow you really spent time and crunched the numbers on this one, all spot on man.

madwren

Steeme wrote:

Or they're non-event decks with one card replaced in order to fulfill the energize requirement.

I'm not trying to sound like a troll here, I promise, but what makes it a non-event deck, if it has the ability to fulfill the requirements mandated by the event? It would seem to me that powerful decks that can still manage to fulfill both requirements are the epitome of event decks.

I'm just curious where the line begins and ends for you. In the past, I've supported the introduction of block tournaments, for example, but a number of these cards are low-powered enough that meeting the secondary objectives would be difficult with only Kaladesh cards, and block restrictions would skew the tournament towards those fortunate enough to attain the few powerful rares and mythics in the set.

losdamianos

span_argoman wrote:

The point of the stuff I typed is that I think it matters more that the matches are well distributed over the course of the event than the actual number of matches. I think while there are those who actually want more matches per event, many of us are not that keen to go back to the old days where we had to play up to 70 matches over 48 hours to compete.

there is also another solution
If you dont feel like someone is holding a loaded gun to your forehead when event starts You can simply not play and enjoy other things in your life knowing that you can just jump in for a 10-20 minutes burn few nodes and carry on with important/less important stuff.
That is the real buty of it, game is no longer holding you hostage with TICK TOCK TICK TOCK, (should I go to bed now or should I set my alarm clock in the middle of the night so I wont loose my charges...)

wereotter

madwren wrote:

Steeme wrote:

Or they're non-event decks with one card replaced in order to fulfill the energize requirement.

I'm not trying to sound like a troll here, I promise, but what makes it a non-event deck, if it has the ability to fulfill the requirements mandated by the event? It would seem to me that powerful decks that can still manage to fulfill both requirements are the epitome of event decks.

I'm just curious where the line begins and ends for you. In the past, I've supported the introduction of block tournaments, for example, but a number of these cards are low-powered enough that meeting the secondary objectives would be difficult with only Kaladesh cards, and block restrictions would skew the tournament towards those fortunate enough to attain the few powerful rares and mythics in the set.

An example would be I've edited my Kiora deck to utilize the energize mechanic, taking out other more powerful cards to do so. However, I just lost a match to a Koth deck that had literally zero energize cards. It was all dragons, eldrazi, and burn spells. Great deck for the planeswalker, but strictly more powerful than I could compete against because of the changes the event forced me to make. The challenge of filling the requirements can and does create an uneven playing field when my opponent is playing literally any created deck, and I'm playing at a handicap.

span_argoman

THEMAGICkMAN wrote:

Wow you really spent time and crunched the numbers on this one, all spot on man.

Thanks! Now to hope that the developers will consider this suggestion worth implementing!

losdamianos wrote:

span_argoman wrote:

The point of the stuff I typed is that I think it matters more that the matches are well distributed over the course of the event than the actual number of matches. I think while there are those who actually want more matches per event, many of us are not that keen to go back to the old days where we had to play up to 70 matches over 48 hours to compete.

there is also another solution
If you dont feel like someone is holding a loaded gun to your forehead when event starts You can simply not play and enjoy other things in your life knowing that you can just jump in for a 10-20 minutes burn few nodes and carry on with important/less important stuff.
That is the real buty of it, game is no longer holding you hostage with TICK TOCK TICK TOCK, (should I go to bed now or should I set my alarm clock in the middle of the night so I wont loose my charges...)

While disengagement is an option for dealing with something, I was under the impression that we were discussing possible improvements to the system rather than talking about how an individual can react to the situation. If people don't like something there's a whole range of reactions they can choose one, but I think things have a chance to get better only when one tries to help rather than shy away from the issue. And sometimes you want to try even though you know the odds aren't that good because well, maybe you care.